Mediating role of emotion disclosure between emotion regulation and apprehension in healthcare professionals during COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: To identify the mediating role of emotional disclosure between emotion regulation and apprehension in health care professionals during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). METHODS: This correlational study, spanning three months, involved seventy-six healthcare workers. These individuals, encompassing both paid and unpaid personnel serving in healthcare facilities, were selected through purposive sampling. They operated in various health-care settings across public and private sectors in Lahore, Pakistan, and had the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or their infectious secretions and materials. Three self-reported measures emotion regulation questionnaire, psychosocial reaction scale, and emotional self-disclosure scale were used along with one demographic sheet to collect data. Descriptive statistics, correlation method and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesis. RESULTS: Out of 76 participants, 41 (54%) were males. Mean age of participants was 29.68±8.14 years. Majority (n=58/76;76%) of participants were doctors; 26 (34%) had prior exposure to Covid virus. Correlation analysis revealed that cognitive reappraisal is positively associated with positive emotional disclosure (r=.35; p<.001), and expressive suppression is positively associated with negative emotional disclosure (r=.23; p<.05) and apprehension (r=.43; p<.001) in healthcare workers. Furthermore, negatively emotional disclosure is positively associated with apprehension. Mediation analysis showed that negative emotional disclosure partially mediates the association between expressive suppression and apprehension (β=0.33, SE=0.11, p < .001). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest healthcare workers to be at greater risk of developing mental health conditions and they need to practice adaptive emotion regulation strategies such as acceptance, reappraisal, and problem solving especially during emergency situations like Covid.